Marvel announce their plans for Phase 4 – Doctor Strange goes Lovecraft, Female Thor, a new Blade and more

Marvel’s plans for Phase 4 were revealed at SDCC 2019.

Feige officially announced the feature film Black Widow which is due out on May 1, 2020. It will be the first film of Phase Four to hit the big screen.

The film is directed by Cate Shortland. Scarlett Johansson stars once more as Natasha Romanoff. Joining her will be David Harbour (Stranger Things) as Alexei aka The Red Guardian, Florence Pugh as Yelena, O-T Fagbenle as Mason and Rachel Weisz as Melina.

The next entry is the first MCU Disney+ original series The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, which pairs up two of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s most popular heroes—Sam Wilson aka The Falcon and Bucky Barnes aka The Winter Soldier—in a series of action-filled adventures as they fight together against evil after the events of Avengers: Endgame.

Anthony Mackie (The Falcon) and Sebastian Stan (The Winter Soldier) will star alongside Daniel Brühl who will return as the villain, Baron Zemo. The Falcon and The Winter Soldier is set to debut on Disney+ in the fall of 2020.

The Eternals will be next from director Chloé Zhao. It stars Richard Madden as Ikaris, Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo, Lauren Ridloff as Makkari, Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, Salma Hayek as Ajak, Lia McHugh as Sprite, Don Lee as Gilgamesh and Angelina Jolie as Thena. The Eternals will make their Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in cinemas on November 6, 2020.

Next comes Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings featuring Simu Liu in the title role of Shang-Chi with Destin Daniel Cretton on board to direct. Awkwafina has also been cast with celebrated Chinese actor Tony Leung set to play The Mandarin. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings will be in out on February 12, 2021.

Then there is the Disney+ series with WandaVision, where Paul Bettany reprises the role of Vision and Elizabeth Olsen returns to her role of Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch.  Teyonah Parris will be playing the version of Monica Rambeau, who was introduced to audiences in Captain Marvel. WandaVision premieres on Disney+ in the spring of 2021.

Next will be Loki, Tom Hiddleston—back in his role of the mercurial Loki, the god of mischief and everyone’s favourite villain—will return as the character in the spring of 2021 on Disney+. The series will deal with the biggest question from Avengers: Endgame, “Where did Loki go when he took the Space Stone?”

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Scott Derrickson, returns to direct with Benedict Cumberbatch returning to star. Elizabeth Olsen will star in as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch in the sequel which connects directly to the WandaVision TV series.

Derrickson said the new film will follow the original comics and play up “the gothic, the horror.” He said it will lead Benedict Cumberbatch to dark and damaging places. The title is also a cool link to some of the stories of H.P. Lovecraft.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness –May 7, 2021.

Then the first animated entry in the MCU with What If….?, a series being created exclusively for Disney+ which features stories that present alternate realities in the Marvel universe. Many actors from across the Marvel Cinematic Universe will reprise their roles as voice talent in the series with Jeffrey Wright set as the voice of the popular character The Watcher in the new series.

It will feature the voices of Michael B. Jordan (Erik Killmonger), Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier), Josh Brolin (Thanos), Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner/Hulk), Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter), Chadwick Boseman (T’Challa/Black Panther), Karen Gillan (Nebula), Jeremy Renner (Clint Barton/Hawkeye), Paul Rudd (Scott Lang/Ant-Man), Michael Douglas (Hank Pym/Ant-Man), Neal McDonough (Dum Dum Dugan), Dominic Cooper (Howard Stark), Sean Gunn (Kraglin), Natalie Portman (Jane Foster), David Dastmalchian (Kurt), Stanley Tucci (Dr. Abraham Erskine), Taika Waititi (Korg), Toby Jones (Dr. Arnim Zola), Djimon Hounsou (Korath), Jeff Goldblum (Grandmaster), Michael Rooker (Yondu) and Chris Sullivan (Taserface).

What If…? joins the Disney+ lineup in the summer of 2021.

The Hawkeye Disney+ series with Jeremy Renner set to reprise his role as Clint Barton. In the series, he will teach his protege Kate Bishop. Hawkeye launches on Disney+ in the fall of 2021.

Thor: Love and Thunder will see Jane Foster, played by Natalie Portman, set to become the Mighty Thor, the goddess of Thunder. Director Taika Waititi returns alongside Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson. The sequel arrives November 5, 2021.

One last announcement was made by Feige, though not explicitly referred to as part of Marvel’s Phase Four but simply a reveal of what’s in development, he was joined on stage by actor Mahershala Ali who will star in Marvel Studios feature film Blade. The star has already appeared in Marvel’s Luke Cage TV show as Copperhead.